Chacha Rakha
This is vintage.
I remember seeing this drama as a kid playing to full houses. Multiple times. The standing ovations.
Spot mom in the picture? Second from right. She must be a little over 30 here.
Nikah Halal ..and this Punjabi comedy play ‘Chacha Rakha’ which dates back close to 50 years.
"NIKAH HALAL" AND 49 YEARS OLD PUNJABI COMEDY DRAMA "CHACHA RAKHA"
"NIKAH HALAL" AND 49 YEARS OLD PUNJABI COMEDY DRAMA "CHACHA RAKHA"
These days newspapers are full of news about " Nikah Halal", the muslim practice of divorce, which the Govt intends banning. However, I had staged Punjabi comedy drama " Chacha Rakha" 49 years ago in 1969 in Sapru House, New Delhi under the auspices of cultural society Kala Sangam whose Secretary I was. The 49 year old photo shows :
L to R sitting- Rajinder Bali,late Deshi Kamleshwar, comedian Kimati Anand ( he still acts in feature films), late BK Sood, Mrs Kamlesh Gill ( she still acts as grandmother in feature films,TV Serials),Vijay Kapoor. Standing- Pali Singh, Raghbir Singh ( who played role of Chacha Rakha and also directed play)
The story is like this. A husband and wife ( BK Sood and Mrs Kamlesh Gill) quarrel very frequently and often husband utters the word " talaq talaq talaq" almost daily, but does not mean anything serious, and the life goes on normal between husband and wife. However, one day a maulvi ( muslim priest) who is just passing by hears the word talaq talaq talaq. He rules that now they cannot live together and stand divorced as a priest has heard these words. The couple pleads that they both love each other and uttering of talaq is routine affair without any serious meaning. But the maulvi tells them that the only way they can remarry is that first the wife remarries a new man and then that man himself divorces the new wife.
In order to keep the affair within the family, the husband requests his own CHACHA named Rakha( who lives in the same house) to marry his wife on the condition that he divorces her later, which the Chacha agrees.
After marriage the old Chacha Rakha becomes enamoured of his new beautiful wife and blatantly refuses to divorce her. Moreover, Chacha's own wife is away to her maternal home. Here the playright Prem Jallundhry creates a series of highly comic situations depicting highly charged emotional Chacha Rakha and disenchanting new wife. Such situations used to send the audience into peals and peals of laughter. Ultimately the dominating Chachi returns from her maternal home after a few months and the hen-pecked Chacha immediately divorces the new wife. The old couple are then remarried.
It was one of the best and most popular drama of its time and used to get housefull every time it was staged in Sapru House.
Is there anyone who has seen this play when it was staged in 1969, 1970 in Sapru House, New Delhi."
L to R sitting- Rajinder Bali,late Deshi Kamleshwar, comedian Kimati Anand ( he still acts in feature films), late BK Sood, Mrs Kamlesh Gill ( she still acts as grandmother in feature films,TV Serials),Vijay Kapoor. Standing- Pali Singh, Raghbir Singh ( who played role of Chacha Rakha and also directed play)
The story is like this. A husband and wife ( BK Sood and Mrs Kamlesh Gill) quarrel very frequently and often husband utters the word " talaq talaq talaq" almost daily, but does not mean anything serious, and the life goes on normal between husband and wife. However, one day a maulvi ( muslim priest) who is just passing by hears the word talaq talaq talaq. He rules that now they cannot live together and stand divorced as a priest has heard these words. The couple pleads that they both love each other and uttering of talaq is routine affair without any serious meaning. But the maulvi tells them that the only way they can remarry is that first the wife remarries a new man and then that man himself divorces the new wife.
In order to keep the affair within the family, the husband requests his own CHACHA named Rakha( who lives in the same house) to marry his wife on the condition that he divorces her later, which the Chacha agrees.
After marriage the old Chacha Rakha becomes enamoured of his new beautiful wife and blatantly refuses to divorce her. Moreover, Chacha's own wife is away to her maternal home. Here the playright Prem Jallundhry creates a series of highly comic situations depicting highly charged emotional Chacha Rakha and disenchanting new wife. Such situations used to send the audience into peals and peals of laughter. Ultimately the dominating Chachi returns from her maternal home after a few months and the hen-pecked Chacha immediately divorces the new wife. The old couple are then remarried.
It was one of the best and most popular drama of its time and used to get housefull every time it was staged in Sapru House.
Is there anyone who has seen this play when it was staged in 1969, 1970 in Sapru House, New Delhi."
- Amarjit Singh Kohli
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